THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
 FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH PETE STEFANOVIC, SKY NEWS

Tuesday 12 May 2026

Topics: Budget; Farrer by-election.

E&OE……………………………………

PETE STEFANOVIC: Let's bring in the Shadow Industry and Sovereign Capability Minister, Andrew Hastie. Andrew, good to see you this morning. What is your view of things this morning in Canberra?

ANDREW HASTIE: Good morning, Pete. Our starting premise is that this is going to be a Budget of broken promises and higher taxes. This is not what the Australian people voted for, and we're not expecting it to do much about cutting regulation, beating inflation, getting energy prices down and restoring a fair go for all Australians. That's what Angus Taylor will be pitching on Thursday night when he does his Budget in Reply.

PETE STEFANOVIC: There are these well noted concerns about investors and startups. What are the other perceived Budget losers that you are most worried about this morning? Maybe even it's got to do with your own portfolio.

ANDREW HASTIE: We haven't had the Budget handed down yet, so let's wait and see. But certainly, we don't want to be taxing Australians any more. Australians already are paying about $2,000 more in bracket creep, and we want to see Australians have a fair go again. This is the highest spending government in the last 40 years. We've got the highest inflation in the world for an advanced economy. The Australian people deserve a fair go, and they're not getting it from this Labor government.

PETE STEFANOVIC: If the capital gains tax discount is taken out entirely, and if there's no carve out for startups, that means the tax is going to virtually double. Would you be concerned about startups heading out overseas?

ANDREW HASTIE: Absolutely, we're already seeing that – a lot of Australian IP and startups head overseas across a number of sectors. And so, the question really is, how do we build Australia for the next decade? How do we get ourselves into the strongest possible position? We know what's happening around the world – there's all sorts of changes that are for the worst, it's a more competitive and dangerous world – and that's why this Budget should be about strengthening Australia. And our strength lies, first and foremost, in our families, in our small businesses, and if they're struggling – if they can't get ahead – how can we get ahead as a nation? That's why we'll be watching this very closely but all forecasts so far through the media is that this will be a Labor Budget of broken promises and higher taxes.

PETE STEFANOVIC: A couple of months ago, you did an interview in which you said and you expressed, and you're not alone here – others have expressed concerns – about their kids being able to buy a home, right? And you mentioned that in the interview. So isn't that what the Treasurer Jim Chalmers is trying to do?

ANDREW HASTIE: There's no silver bullet here, but one of the greatest challenges at the moment, when it comes to buying a home, is the population growth that this government has allowed to occur through uncontrolled immigration. One of the things we're going to do – and we've already raised through the media – is that we're going to peg immigration to housing completions. It makes sense to get that under control before we start fiddling with other parts of the housing sector and tax regime.

PETE STEFANOVIC: Well, on that tax regime, wouldn't negative gearing or changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax help your kids, for example, get a home in the future?

ANDREW HASTIE: The biggest challenge we're facing now is building homes. I chatted with builders over the weekend – it's incredibly difficult to build homes. So we need to make sure the incentives are right, we need to cut regulation mainly – and that's a challenge across local and state governments as well to get houses moving. Certainly, there's no silver bullet here, but I think one of the biggest drivers at the moment with the overheated housing market is immigration and so getting that down to manageable numbers. The net overseas migration figure between 2000 and 2019 averaged about 190,000. The Albanese government has been averaging close to half a million over the last three or four years. It's got to come down, and if we do that, then we can start seeing housing prices become more manageable for young Australians.

PETE STEFANOVIC: But would those tax changes help?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, that's a question that we'll answer when we get the final Budget and we'll come to our position, but one thing we're not going to do is increase taxes on Australians. We're just not interested in doing that.

PETE STEFANOVIC: With all these broken promises and with these lies by the government at the moment, these broken pledges, do you think this just bleeds more votes to One Nation?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's hard to tell Pete. I certainly think that breaking promises is bad for the Prime Minister. They've acknowledged their broken promises – they're now out to justify that they've broken promises for the reasons they've already outlined. But in the end, they went to the last election – just over a year ago – committing to not changing any of the taxes they're seeking to fiddle with. This will not build trust with the Australian people, that's for sure.

PETE STEFANOVIC: But should the Liberal Party – noting post-Farrer that the Liberal vote bled more with an appalling result – but should the Liberal and National parties form a coalition with One Nation at the next election? Are you more open to that now?

ANDREW HASTIE: I'm not open to that. I don't think One Nation wants us as a coalition partner. I don't think we want One Nation as a coalition partner. I think the feeling is mutual at this stage and we have work to so as a party –

PETE STEFANOVIC: – At this stage. So it could change?

ANDREW HASTIE: Excised at this stage. The feeling is mutual – we don't want to be in coalition, they don't want to be in coalition with us and that's the reality.

PETE STEFANOVIC: Alright, but the first test for Angus as Leader was the failure in Farrer. Is he the right man to lead, the right man to continue?

ANDREW HASTIE: Angus is the right man to lead and to continue – our party made that very clear only three months ago. The expectation for Farrer was always that we were going to struggle, and the vote that we achieved – which was a significant battering from the people of Farrer on the weekend – was about what we expected. We've got work to do, it’s early stages, we're going to keep building.

PETE STEFANOVIC: Andrew Hastie, we'll leave it there. Good to see you this morning, thank you.

[ENDS]